Indo-French weather satellite launch in `09

The progress of the work for this launch was presented at a meeting of the Joint Working Group of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the French space agency Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) recently.

The meeting was held to review the progress of the on-going collaborative programmes under the chairmanship of G Madhavan Nair, chairman, ISRO and Yannick d`Escatha, president, CNES.

Megha Tropiques carries four payloads. During the meeting, an agreement between ISRO and CNES on the data policy for distribution of data received from Megha Tropiques was also signed.

"This policy enables the global scientific community to have free access to Megha Tropiques data after calibration and evaluation of the payloads by scientists from both agencies for weather and climate change studies," according to ISRO sources.

The data is expected to help better understand the tropical weather phenomena including the monsoons. The meeting reviewed the status of Saral, a small satellite mission with payloads from CNES for the study of ocean parameters for enhancing the understanding of the ocean state conditions.

While reviewing the future collaborative projects, the teams emphasised the need for space-based observations for climate, environment and disaster management. Scientists from ISRO and CNES exchanged ideas for cooperation in conceiving space-based systems and methodologies to better understanding of tropical weather and climate.

The cooperation between the two agencies will also enhance interaction between scientists outside space agencies in India and France and among the global scientific community, the sources added.

Technical and scientific strengths of ISRO and CNES is expected to help evolve and establish innovative operational space systems in addressing issues related to the tropical weather and climate.